CRAIG Bellamy will join his Newcastle team-mates for the start of pre-season training this morning despite spending yesterday on Merseyside discussing a possible £5m move to Everton.

The Wales international will embarrass boss Graeme Souness by turning up at the club's Little Benton training ground despite being warned that he will be forced to train with the club's juniors.

But that stand is unlikely to be long-lived after Bellamy finally opted for a move to Goodison Park rather than rotting in Newcastle's reserves for the foreseeable future.

The 25-year-old rebuffed Everton's initial advances this summer, privately arguing that the Champions League hopefuls were not a big enough pull for him.

But, after also turning down Aston Villa and Birmingham, Bellamy agreed to meet Everton boss David Moyes yesterday to outline his personal demands.

Moyes is reluctant to break his club's current wage ceiling of £40,000-a-week but is hoping to broker a compromise with the striker that would see him lower his £50,000-a-week demands in return for higher bonuses should he help Everton build on last season's impressive fourth-place finish.

Bellamy's wages ultimately proved too big a hurdle for Celtic to overcome, despite the Scottish side agreeing to meet Newcastle's £5m asking price this weekend.

The Magpies are now hoping to push through a deal with Everton as quickly as possible so they can use some of the transfer fee to help fund Souness' summer spending plans.

So far, the Scot's only signing has been the £6.5m purchase of former Chelsea midfielder Scott Parker, although a £4m deal for Turkey international Emre Belozoglu is expected to be concluded later this week.

Souness will be delighted to see the back of Bellamy after the volatile frontman labelled him a "liar" following an altercation at Arsenal in January.

That disagreement escalated into a vitriolic war of words that scuppered any chances of a possible reunion at St James' Park.

"If somebody is constantly upsetting the group and undermining what we want to achieve, then there's only one option to take," said Souness, in a clear reference to the Bellamy situation.

"You try to change that individual, but if they're not prepared to change, they have to go, simple as that."

* Newcastle look certain to be heading to Slovakia when their Intertoto Cup campaign gets under-way later this month after FK Dubnica won 4-0 win in Turkey against Ankaraspor.

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